On May 11, 2018, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) published in the Federal Register a Final Rule making amendments to 7 CFR 3419 – “Matching Funds Requirements for Agricultural Research and Extension Capacity Funds at 1890 Land-Grant Institutions, including Central State University, Tuskegee University, and West Virginia State University, and 1862 Land-grant Institutions in Insular Areas.” This rule is applicable only to 1890 land-grant universities and 1862 land-grant universities in insular areas.
The Final Rule revises 7 CFR 3419 by:
- Making updates to definitions and language consistent with the past three Farm Bills and NIFA policies and practices. For example, replacing the word “formula” with “capacity.”
- Establishing in regulation the process by which 1890’s and 1862’s in insular areas submit requests for matching waivers. The content in the Final Rule is consistent with the current process NIFA uses and clearly defines the situations when a waiver will be considered, the application process, the required supporting documentation, and that documentation must be current, providing information from the past two years.
- Removing the term “qualifying educational activities” from the definitions and allowable uses of matching funds. The revised Final Rule clarifies the allowable uses of matching funds as activities for the same purpose as Federal award dollars: agricultural research and extension activities that have been approved in the plan of work required under sections 1445(c) and 1444(d) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, section 7 of the Hatch Act of 1887, and section 4 of the Smith-Lever Act.
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